This invention relates to an apparatus for shifting the filter plates of a filter press. The apparatus has at least one plate drive which extends in the length dimension of the filter press and which is displaceable in the opening direction and in the closing direction of the filter press. On the plate drive there is mounted a carrier element which is provided with a lug and which can be swung into an operative, force-transmitting engagement with a projection forming part of each filter plate when shifting thereof is to be effected.
An apparatus having the above-outlined broad characteristics is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,915,863. According to this patent, the filter plates can be locked to one another at both the open and the closed side of the filter press for the purpose of, for example, ensuring a reliable separation of the filter plate to be shifted from the filter plate stack even if the filter plates tend to stick to one another or separate, dependent upon the behavior of the filter cake. It is a significant disadvantage of such known apparatus that each filter plate has to be provided with its own locking device; this involves substantial expense regarding structure, assembly and maintenance. It is a further disadvantage of the known apparatus that the locking hook of the filter plate to be shifted is released only when the plate drive has already been moved in the opening direction of the filter press, so that in addition to the forces which are generated by the filter cake and which urge the filter plates away from one another, a further pulling force appears which stresses the locking device before the respective filter plate is unlocked.